Hi, my local Aldi started carrying Cryovac packages of pork belly, so on a whim I bought one (despite my self-promise to not buy Aldi pork anymore).
As far as I can recall, I’ve never used pork belly as a recipe ingredient.
Do you have any favorite preps for pork belly? Note as in title, I’m asking about US-style pork belly (fat + meat but not rib meat and ribs). We do have a couple of older threads here, but those seem to be geared at the UK-style pork belly.
Many thanks in advance.
Red-braised pork belly is always great (served with some stir-fried greens and rice)
Chinese-style, with extra-crispy skin 
Out of interest, could you perhaps better explain how pork belly in the US differs from pork belly in the UK? From the description so far, I’m wondering if it actually comes from a different part of the body.
I know you’re not wanting a British contribution here but, echoing honkman’s suggestion, pork belly is what I’d use for the red braised dish, often called, in the UK “Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly”. The Hunan Restaurant in our local Chinatown does a great version.
Thanks John. I’m not entirely clear on the differences - searching here and finding this thread of yours from about 6 years ago was what first clewed me in to the differences between what we in the US call pork belly (only the lower parts and no rib meat or bones), and what you in UK call pork belly (up to and including ribs).
This one!
I love “buta no kakuni”, (braised, simmered pork belly). This recipe seems as good as any.
That was a fun thread which I’d forgotten. Not seen another slab of belly pork with nipples!
I love char siu.
I tried some “crispy” and smoked versions some using a few ideas from this thread. The recipe in the link below was supposed to be siu yuk 
. I also tried some ideas with slices. I think it’s the right kind of pork. Does yours have skin on or off?
Thank you.
I saw that post but the OP was talking about the UK/EU version (ribs on). So I didn’t skim far enough down to see that you posted some recipes for the US version.
re skin - I haven’t opened the cryovac yet, but looking at what I can see around the label, I’m nearly certain it is skin-off. Most of that surface is covered in fat, but it doesn’t feel as taut as it would if there was skin. Plus one small corner shows the meat, which should not be the case for skin-on.
I’m really glad you asked that question, because a lot of the recipes I’ve been skimming really depend heavily on what the skin brings to the party. I’ll need to put those aside until (if) I get some with the skin on.
Thanks again!
Edit - holy cow you’ve got a lot of recipes in that thread!
Recently my Food Lion had some on clearance. I scooped one up and made this!
Gorditas.
I have been making my own bacon with 4lb slabs of pork belly, but have yet to prefect a recipe.
Very nice. Are you curing and smoking, or just salting and smoking? (I know next to nothing about cooking pork belly, except for what I’ve recently learned here)
I’m curing for 10 days then smoking. Last batch was tasty, but not salty enough and a tad too sweet. Will adjust the recipe and try again.
These are usually already cooked, so you can just move on to crisping and using.
Chinese preps (Shanghainese, red cooked, etc) are a natural fit for pork belly (though you may not get the depth of flavor that you’d get from braising from scratch).
Bao are a good use if you can get the buns from a chinese market (they’re pretty easy to make too). Taiwanese or the ones momofuku made popular.
Also works well as faux porchetta for a sandwich if you make up the seasoning I , coat slices, and sear (or coat the whole piece and slice later, for less seasoning).
You could also braise it further in soy sauce etc for chashu for ramen.
Great, let us know, please, how it turns out?
I’m really happy with how this turned out. Tender, juicy, very tasty(*). I was also very happy with how beefy this one was (okay, porky), with a lot of meat on both sides of that central fat layer.
I salted at around 1.4%, and once that was mostly absorbed, I dusted it with Meathead’s Memphis Dust (wordplay intentional, poor as it is) and left it uncovered in the fridge overnight. Then I foil wrapped and oven-cooked for about 5 hours at 180-190°F while babysitting, and finished it smoking at around 220-240°F for a few hours (a 70:30-ish split of apple:hickory) to about 200°F internal in the thickest part. Some of the thinner areas were closer to 215 by then, but didn’t dry out.
(*) Gave some to my daughter and SIL and they said, “Yep, tastes just like your ribs”. Which is true, I guess, given the ingredients.
I was happy enough with it that I ran to Aldi expecting to grab several more, but they only had one smallish one left, so I got it. I’m afraid Aldi carrying the belly may be just a one-off offering, and none of the regular grocers around here sell it. Bummer if so.
But at least I have one more to play with! I salted this one at 1.2% and then dusted with Badia’s “Complete” seasoning, for a less barbecue-ish flavor. It’s in the oven now and will get the same smoke treatment once it gets a bit closer to pull temp. I also skimmed the fat cap down to about 1/4 inch to save for making bangers. My son’s 20th birthday is coming up and his favorite meal is bangers and mash.
In the photos you can see it was scored, but it wasn’t skin-on. I just scored down through the fat cap and into the meat. I know all the Cheffies tell me not to score that deeply, but I always do because I sift the salt and other seasonings down to the meat that way.
@shrinkrap - thanks for your extra help!
I sure would not turn a plate of that down!!
Lordy, that looks good!
That reminds me of something Mrs. ricepad said a couple of days ago. We were taking a drive through the countryside and passed some cattle as they were grazing in a pasture. She blurted out, “Look how beefy that cow is!” I just stared at her to give her some time to think about what she’d just said. Eventually, she said - much more quietly - “I guess all cows are beefy, aren’t they?”
